Rob Bristow, the Chief executive of Execel, one of the UK’s biggest exam boards, has expressed “profound regret” after two of its A-level exams suffered leaks.
The maths and economics exams were compromised after parts of the economics exam showed up on social media 20 minutes before students were to sit the exam, and a maths exam was sold online. Two men were arrested and released in connection to the leak.
Bristow said it was “too late to replace papers to be sat that day and the following Monday”.
“We notified the exams regulator Ofqual and took the evidence we had gathered to the police, who immediately began their investigations.
“The police rapidly made arrests, but their detailed investigation takes time, and we had to make a decision about how to approach the exams that students still had to sit.”
“The police rapidly made arrests, but their detailed investigation takes time, and we had to make a decision about how to approach the exams that students still had to sit.”
He added:
“In any situation like this we have well-established contingency plans that adhere to one over-riding principle – fairness for all students.
“We have to ensure that the exams are secure, and that we will be able to mark papers to ensure fair results.
“If we had had any reason to believe that there had been a widespread breach of the maths papers, we would have postponed this week’s sittings without hesitation.”
Mary Bousted, general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, said this incident is just the latest in a long string of education board failings. She commented “this summer’s exams have been plagued with questions leaking, unanswerable questions and essential information missing from exam papers. Students, parents and teachers are likely to be distressed by these failings and lose confidence in the exam system.”
